By forcing myself to use my blog and domain in a new way, it has kept me thinking about how I use my domain, blog, and other web tools to create a web presence.  The longer I live without my blog being my starting point or home page, the more I value it.  That doesn't mean I want my blog to go back to being my home for my domain though...

A colleague of mine suggested that it is more about using the right tool for the job rather than committing yourself to a certain set of tools for all purposes.  About a week ago, I was ready to ditch this blog and put all of my energy into kindohm.tumblr.com.  Looking back, it's almost funny to think I wanted to do that.  Tumblr is an awesome web app, but it's more like a scrapbook than a journal or blog.  I like the fact that I can post quick messages, links, pictures, or video on Tumblr without distracting from the real meaty content on my blog.  Tumblr has also been great for slurping in content from other apps, and vice-versa.  Tumblr is just another node out there with an RSS interface - and it is recognized by other apps.

So what is my next idea-of-the-week?  Right now, kindohm.com is a static page with very little content.  It is merely a landing page that will take you to my blog or other apps.  Very quickly I'm starting to dislike that there is very little data on the landing page.  It's kind of annoying that you have to go to the landing page first to get to something useful.  Instead, I'd like the landing page to present an aggregation of all the latest stuff - blog posts, pictures, twitters, links, etc.  I'll have to do it creatively - there isn't a lot of real-estate available on a singe page to include all that stuff.  I'll probably open up a can of Ajax on the page :) 

Ultimately, I'm not sure what is going to happen with Tumblr.  The new landing page may render it useless.  Either way, I'll continue with this head-first approach in reinventing my web site and web presence.  It isn't as radical as I thought it would be, but I'm enjoying seeing things differently.

Hopefully you folks out there are sticking with me while I figure this out.  You are the victims of me having fun playing in the playground that is the internet. 

As I've been playing around with a few other blog-like tools, I'm finding that I can't replace my existing/old blog (that you are reading right now).  Some of you pointed this out to me a few days ago already :) 

What I'm still looking to change though is my "store front".  I still am not satisfied with the blog being the starting point.  It's one piece of a puzzle and I just don't want to give it special treatment.  I'm still experimenting and figuring this out with a hands-on approach.  In about a week and a half, www.tastynectar.com will launch and I'm really curious to see what that might offer.  Maybe nothing... who knows. 

I'm moving things. Visit the new kindohm.com.

You can follow my antics on Tumblr:

http://kindohm.tumblr.com/

http://kindohm.tumblr.com/rss

I'm not 100% sure I'm doing things in exactly the best way, but I'm throwing something out there and seeing if it sticks. 

The best way I can say it is that I want to get away from a big, centralized web app/blog.  The "blog" is the main face of kindohm.com and the focal point of "Mike Hodnick", and it isn't going to be those things any more.  The blog hosted here may still be a tool of some use, but it won't be the focus.  When I set this blog up four years ago, there wasn't another app out on the web (hosted by someone else) that was a good alternative.  Today, four years later, there are so many great services out there for free that offer fantastic features.  I'm heading in that direction.  I'm spreading myself out. 

The new kindohm.com has a new face.  If you're reading this in an RSS aggregator, then you're not seeing it.  But the new home page offers a unified starting point for all things Mike:

http://www.kindohm.com

Wild looking to trade Gaborik

To me, this is a very bittersweet situation.  On one hand, how could you ever get rid of one of the most gifted and skilled hockey players on the planet?  On the other hand, he is injury-prone and hasn't proven himself for the amount of money he wants after his contract expires this season. 

I really don't think Gaborik can be the superstar player he thinks he is.  In this day, the NHL's superstars not only have offensive super skills but also skate and hit and grind their way through a game.  Today's good players also focus on defense and use good defense to create offensive opportunities.  Look at Wild players like Mikko Koivu - he's an offensive threat but is extremely physical and one of the most reliable defensive players on the team.  You'll rarely see Gaborik getting very physical or pulling off a "carry the team on my shoulders" effort.  Players like Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, or Alexander Ovechkin can single-handedly take over a game.  Which leads me to my next point...

Gaborik is asking to be the one of the top-paid players in the NHL.  He's asking for contracts similar to what Vincent Lecavalier and Alexander Ovechkin have - a contract that would put him as one of the five highest-paid players in the league.  I really don't think he is one of the top five players in the league.  What has he proven?  He's proven that he's scored more than 40 goals once in his career.  What else?  He hasn't been effective in playoff games, nor has he demonstrated that he can single-handedly turn the tide in a game.  Exactly why does he think he's worth so much?

I think the Wild need to trade Gaborik quickly while there is still enough of a positive outlook on his career.  I'm also personally tired of the baggage that Gaborik carries with him - every time there are contract talks we get into this kind of a mess. 

We don't ever hear Gaborik's side of the story.  Maybe he or his agent don't want to tell it.  It may be just as simple as he doesn't want to play for Minnesota because of the team's style of play.  A more offensive-minded team may suit him better.  Is there anything wrong with saying that?  If I had to guess, I'd say that's the reason.  Unless he can make really big money, he probably doesn't want to stay in Minnesota.  With his history of injuries, who would take him?  Probably a playoff-bound team this year who needs added offense in the short term.  When his contract ends after he is traded somewhere else, I think he'll find himself in the same situation he is in now and he'll have a hard time getting the money he wants.

I'm no hockey expert, but I enjoy seeing how bad my predictions are after the season is over.  I'm also really bad at forming strong opinions on unpredictable things like sports, but here goes...  my Minnesota Wild 2008-2009 season predictions.

Let's start with the losses.  Brian Rolston, Pavol Demitra, and Mark Parrish are all gone (along with a handful of others).  With the exception of Rolston, I really don't think these losses matter.  First off, Demitra was virtually a non-factor last year as he only scored 15 goals.  He complained about Minnesota's constraining defensive system.  Hmmmm... somehow that didn't stop Gaborik and Rolston from scoring over 40 and 30 goals respectively last year.  Demitra is past his prime, and isn't a big loss as far as I'm concerned. 

The one thing that Demitra could do though was feed the puck to Marian Gaborik.  Enter Andrew Brunette.  The Wild signed Brunette early this off-season, admitting it was a mistake to let him go a few years ago.  Brunette is like Demitra except Canadian.  He's got great hands and great vision for those needle-threading passes in the goal crease.

So what about recovering from the loss of Rolston?  He was a 31-goal scorer last season.  Well, the Wild couldn't convince Marian Hossa to come to Minnesota.  Instead, they settled for Owen Nolan, who is more like a replacement for Parrish.  That's 15 goals unaccounted for with the loss of Rolston.

Where I think the Wild will really see gains this year is in its older first-round draft picks: Mikko Koivu, Pierre Marc-Bouchard, James Sheppard, and Brent Burns will be noticeably improved this season.  Koivu showed signs of stunning offensive ability last year (can you say monster deke?).  An improvement from these four across the board will make up for the other 15 goals difference between Rolston and Nolan. 

There is also the addition of a rookie forward in Colton Gillies.  He is unproven, but he is a really big guy and has had good success in his junior leagues.  Big + offensive ability = win.

Benoit Pouliot is also going to make his starting roster debut this season.  He has offensive flair that has yet to be seen in the NHL - my gut tells me he'll either be an offensive menace or a flop.  50/50 chance.  I'll leave him out as a non-factor this season. 

On defense, the Wild have picked up Marc-Andre Bergeron and Marek Zidlicky.  With the defensemen that the Wild have lost, I'll say that their defensive acquisitions are a wash.  However, Zidlicky is a huge offensive threat - which is arguably a step forward.  Losing Keith Carney was tough - he's old but always had a good +/- rating.

The goaltending situation hasn't really changed.  I'm not 100% confident in Niklas Backstrom.  His shootout percentage is bad, and the Wild found themselves in shootouts often last season.  With the Wild's defensive style, I don't see that changing.  If Backstrom flops, we'll see more of Josh Harding who so far has looked decent in his short NHL career.

In summary, while the Wild have lost some offensive talent, I think think it will be made up for with improved young talent this year.  I don't see the overall performance of the team changing this year at all.  However, I don't predict a repeat of the first-place Northwest Division finish.  I think that spot is reserved for Calgary - who can beat the Wild most days of the week, and the Wild can never stop Jarome Iginla. 

I think the Wild will make the playoffs, but again will lose in the first round.  The hardcore fans will be angry and demand the firing of coach Lemaire and general manager Risebrough.  Fire Lemaire?  Maybe.  Sure.  I don't think that changes much though.  I think Risebrough knows what he is doing though.  The Wild aren't even 10 years old yet, and now they are beginning to consistently appear in the playoffs.  Their older draft class talent is just coming into their best years!  Maybe I'm just more patient than most. 

I'd love to see the Wild go deeper in the post-season, but I don't see it happening.  The loss of Rolston and the inability of the Wild to sign another offensive threat will hold them back just that much.

Last night, I had Eva take the Memory game for a spin and she uncovered a ridiculous amount of bugs.  Amazing how a child uses software differently than an adult!  In addition, I quickly realized that the "random placement" of the cards on the screen made the game difficult to use.  While it was a cool feature from my perspective, the folks who tried out the app hated it.  Thus, the random placement was replaced by a standard grid of cards.  You can still move the cards around, though. I also fixed the bugs that Eva found.

I also added a "low score" feature (score = how many match attempts you make in a game).  It keeps track of your all-time low score as you play the game - even across site/page visits.  It accomplishes this using .NET Isolated Storage, which to me is a super powerful feature considering this is an app running on the web.  I have not tested this feature on any operating system other than Vista.  I have tested it in IE and FireFox, and it works just fine (not surprisingly). 

Download the latest source code: http://kindohm.com/sl/memory/memorysource.zip (~600 KB)

Play the latest game: http://kindohm.com/sl/memory/memory.html

Play the game of Memory in Silverlight: http://www.kindohm.com/sl/memory/memory.html

You can download the source code here: http://www.kindohm.com/sl/memory/MemorySource.zip (532 kb).

One feature I added was that the game randomly places the cards on the screen - much like you might do on your living room floor.  You can also click and drag the cards around and arrange them as you play.

http://lolcode.com/news/lolcat-day

O HAI!

Tihs jus in: itz talk liek a lolcat day todaez!

10.1 == lol

Y? Cuz dey tol me so! Haev a l00k!

kthxbye!

At home, we got Eva the game Memory - which she really seems to enjoy playing.  Eva has also been very curious about the computers we have around the house, and she's also played a few very simple kids computer games. 

As a small challenge, I thought it'd be fun to write the game of Memory for Eva to play on the computer in a Silverlight or WPF application. 

I've made little bits of progress over the last week, and now have something to show for it:

After some more polish, I'll post the code and a playable version soon.